How game platforms developed

By Adam_Dunning

  • Bertie the Brain publicly demonstrated

    Bertie the Brain was an arcade game version of tic-tac-toe built by Josef Kates for the Canadian National Exhibition in 1950.

  • Nimrod Computer showcased

    The Nimrod computer was presented at the Festival of Britain and then for three more weeks at the Berlin Industrial show before it was dismantled.

  • First game made for a general purpose computer

    The first attempt at running the game was unsuccessful. It was made by Christoper Strachey and was a simulation of Draughts; it was first game to be created for a general purpose computer meaning it didn't have one built specifically for it, like Bertie the Brain and Nim did.

  • Arthur Samuel beings developing his own checkers game

  • Samuel's game has rudimentary AI

    Successful iterations of Arthur Samuel's checkers game had rudimentary Artificial Intelligence

  • Samuel's checkers shown on television

  • Tennis for Two releases

    Tennis for Two was possibly the first computer game to be released solely for entertainment instead of being a technology demonstration or research tool. It was created by William Hibinbotham, and American physicist.

  • The Management Game releases

    Spurred on by earlier Wargames by the RAND Corporation, a management game was made by Carnegie Mellon University for use in its management classes.

  • Spacewar! is created

    Martin Graetz, Steve Russell and Wayne Wiitanen (employees of Harvard and MIT created Spacewar! The game was copied out of MIT and distributed to several early minicomputer installations in American academic installations, possibly making it the first game to be available outside of just one research institute.

  • The beginning of the games industry

    Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck develop a coin-operated version of a game which would go on to be very successful.

  • Computer Space developed

    Ted Badney and Bushnell discovered the Data General Nova a $4,000 computer that they believed to be strong enough to run four games of Spacewar consecutively. They turned out to be wrong and began investigating whether or not it would be possible if they were to replace some of the computer's components with purpose built components; whilst doing this they discovered that it would be much less expensive to make a machine specifically for running their game, this could be done for as low as $100.

  • Computer Space displayed at a local bar

    This took place for a short time in August.

  • Computer Space sells over 1,000 cabinets

    The cabinet would ultimately sell 1,300-1,500 units; it wasn't the
    runaway success that the manufacturers (Nutting Associates).

  • Clone game of Computer Space released: Star Trek

  • Syzygy incorporates into Atari and develops Pong

    The next arcade game made by Syzygy (now Atari) after the two-player version Computer Space was Pong. While Computer Space was not as influential as Pong, its release marked the start of the commercial video game industry.

  • First Home console releases

    The Magnavox Ogyssey could be connected to a television set. It was Invented by Ralph H. Baer, who had initially had the idea to create an interactive fame one television set in 1951 but was limited buy the technology of the time; so he began developing a device that would be able to attach to a TV and display games in 1966, this device went through six prototypes before the seventh, or the "Brown Box", was licensed to Magnavox for adaption and production

  • Nutting produces two-player version of Computer Space

    Nutting Associates, with the help of Syzygy, developed a two-player version of Computer Space.

  • Magnavox Odyssey sells more than 350,000 units

  • Nutting Associates closes down

  • Fairchild Video Entertainment System (VES) releases

    The VES was the first console to properly implement cartridges; the VES contained a programmable microprocessor which means its cartridges only needed one ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions. Atari and RCA would soon follow suit and release their own cartridge-based consoles which were there Atari 2600 and the RCA Studio II.

  • Fairchild Channel F releases (North America)

    The channel F would go on to release in Japan in 1977 but would never come to Europe. It sold 250,000 units.

  • Magnavox Odyssey 2 releases (Europe)

    It also release in 1982 in Japan and 1979 in North America. It sold 2,000,000 units.

  • The Atari 2600 releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan in 1983 and in North America in 1977. It sold 30,000,000 units.

  • First handheld console with changeable cartridges releases

    The Microvision, which was designed by Smith Engineering, releases. It had a small and fragile LCD screen and tiny selection of games.

  • Games industry gains huge boost because of Atari

    Atari released a conversion of Space Invaders for their Atari 2600. This saw a lot more people buying the console to play the game which helped people know the consoles were something worth their money.

  • Intellivision releases (Europe)

    It also released in 1980 in North America and in Japan in 1982. It sold 3,000,000 units.

  • ColecoVision releases (Europe)

    It also release in North America in 1982. It sold 2,000,000 units.

  • The Atari 5200 releases (North America)

    It would release no where else. It sold 1,000,000 units.

  • NES releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan in 1983 and in North America in 1985. It sold 61,910,000 units.

  • Atari 7800 and Atari XEGS releases (Europe)

    The Atari 7800 also released in North America in 1986 and the Atari XEGS releases in 1987. The Atari 7800 would sell 3,770,000 units and the Atari XEGS would sell 100,000 units.

  • Game Boy releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan in 1989 and in North America in 1989. It sold 118,690,000 units. The Game Boy was released in the fourth generation of consoles and dominated the handheld console market, even though it had a low-contrast, unlit monochrome screen and its three competitors had colour screens.

  • Atari Jaguar releases (Europe)

    It also releases in Japan in 1994 and in North America in 1993. It would sell 250,000 units.

  • PlayStation releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan in 1994 and in North America in 1995. It sold 102,490,000 units.

  • Nintendo 64 releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan in 1996 and in North America in 1996. It sold 32,930,000 units.

  • Sixth generation of consoles

    The sixth generation began using DVDs to store video games, this allowed games to be graphically better and longer. They also had the capability to play online along with hard drive and flash storage.

  • DreamCast releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    It sold 9,130,00 units.

  • PlayStation 2 releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    It sold 155,000,00 units.

  • Gamecube releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan and North America in 2001. It sold 21,740,000 units.

  • Xbox releases (Europe and Japan)

    It also releases in North America in 2001. It sold 24,000,000 units.

  • Xbox 360 releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    It sold 84,700,000 units.

  • Seventh Generation Consoles

    Seventh generation consoles had the ability to play new disk formats, the PlayStation 3 could play Blur-Ray discs and the Xbox 360 could play HD DVDs (for an additional $200 accessory edition). Along with this they were capable of using new input technology like: Motion control and IR tracking, which was implemented on the Wii. All seventh generation consoles would also support wireless controllers. The generation would also see the Nintendo DS which bought touchscreens into the mainstream

  • The Wii releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    It sold 101,630,000 units.

  • PlayStation 3 releases (Europe)

    It also released in Japan and North America in 2006. It sold 87,400,000 units.

  • Virtual Reality

    Virtual reality had been around in some way for a lot longer than this but this is when the first modern headset prototype was revealed. Palmer Luckey designed the first Oculus Rift prototype. It had previously unheard of 90-degree field of vision, but the lenses used to do this caused distortion, it was later corrected by software written by John Carmack. In 2014 Facbook purchased Oculus for $2 billion. In 2014 valve showed off their SteamSight Prototype which would later be made into the vive.

  • Eighth Generation consoles

    The eight generation had many hardware enhancements and focused on increased connectivity and more integration with other media. The Wii U has the capability to utilize augmented reality. The PlayStation 4 has a "Share" button which allows users so stream video game content between devices. Following poor sales of the Wii U Nintendo released the Nintendo Switch, a "Hybrid" console that can be used as handheld console or it can be attached to a TV via its dock.

  • Wii u releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    It sold 13,560,000 units.

  • PlayStation 4 releases (Europe & North America)

    It would also release in Japan in 2014. As of 2018 the PlayStation 4 sold 96,800,000 units.

  • Xbox One releases (Europe & North America)

    It would also release in Japan in 2014. As of 2018 the Xbox One sold an estimated 38.1 million units.

  • Nintendo Switch releases (Europe, Japan & North America)

    As of March 31 2019 the Nintendo Switch sold 34.74 million units.